


Whose Woods These Are

by angeryginger



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Derek Nurse is stupid and bad at cars and common sense, Dex is physically incapable of saying the words 'i'm gay', Hooking up but maybe more??, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Mechanic Dex AU, Referenced racism, Save him. Save us all tbh., THIS IS MY FIRST FIC EVER BUT IM ADDICTED, What else is new, there may be more to write here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-01-19
Packaged: 2018-09-18 13:32:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9387317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angeryginger/pseuds/angeryginger
Summary: Derek Nurse was well and truly fucked. Here he was, in the middle of the fucking Hundred Acre Wood, flat tire, no food, no light but his headlights, and nothing with which to defend himself. Yeah, okay, he had called a tow. Yeah. Just some backwoods hick stranger coming to murder him in the middle of the night. It was fine. It was all gonna be fine. Yep.Fine.





	

Derek Nurse was well and truly fucked. Here he was, in the middle of the fucking Hundred Acre Wood, flat tire, no food, no light but his headlights, and nothing with which to defend himself. Yeah, okay, he had called a tow. Yeah. Just some backwoods hick stranger coming to murder him in the middle of the night. It was fine. It was all gonna be fine. Yep.

Fine. 

OR a BEAR could come out of the woods at any moment and – 

“Are you just sitting out here with your headlights on?”

Derek startled out of his panic spiral, and looked up… and up. Tall. He straightened from lounging against the hood of his car. As tall as Derek.

Nice.

He noticed some grease smudged on the guy's cheekbone and upper lip. Derek’s eyes trailed down to a smear just below the collar of his coveralls. He must have been staring for a few seconds too long, because the mechanic – tow truck driver? Honestly, not a problem either way – had cocked his head to the side and was looking like Derek as if he was an idiot.

Just then, the music from his car cut out, as did the headlights.

Oh. Yeah.

Derek was an idiot.

The tow driver/mechanic/model looked like he was fighting back a smirk. He held up a finger, went to his truck, and came back with a huge flashlight. He then deftly popped the hood of Derek’s car, ducked his head under, and glanced at its innards for about half a second. He set the light down, straightened back up, crossed his – fucking glorious – arms, and leveled Derek with a look.

“Um, oops?” That earned him the smirk in full force.

“Okay, well your battery’s dead. I’ll see if I can jump it, but why’d you call us up in the first place?”

“Oh! Um, yeah, I… tire.” Cool, Derek. Fucking cool.

Mr. Gorgeous quirked an eyebrow.

“Uh. It’s flat.”

“Alright, it’s a bit dark out here to change a tire, and the donut will only get you to town anyway. Let’s just get you back to the shop, and I’ll fix you up by noon tomorrow,” he chuckled. “And, sir? What’s your name, again? My dispatch told me but…” he waved vaguely at his head, which served as a reminder for Derek to look at his face instead of his forearms.

“I’m Derek. Nurse. Good to meet you, and you are?”

“Will. You, too.”

Derek shifted his eyes down to Will’s name badge. Of fucking course he has one, but Derek is glad that he didn’t notice it before. The name on his coveralls is... not Will.

“You and Dex get a little mixed up this morning? Been there. Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to dip your pen in the company ink, man?”

Will flushed red. It started at his ears, then went to his cheeks and nose, then spread to his hairline and neck. Even in the dark, Derek would have to be blind to not notice that color. For the first time though, Derek saw his hair.

Oh goddamn shit, he’s a redhead. A redhead who didn't immediately deny fucking a dude, so. Okay.

“Uh, that’s actually my nickname. I go by Dex at home and the shop. Family business, so lots of William Poindexters. And a great incentive to keep my... pen clean.” Fuck, fuck, fuck, he’s funny, too. 

“Will, Bill, Willie, Billy, Liam, all taken?”

“You don’t know any Irish Catholics, do you?”

Derek barked out a laugh. It surprised him, but it looked like it surprised Will, too. His smile grew and his light brown eyes flashed in the light. Derek shook his head for a reason to stop staring.

“Not too many, no. But I know WASPs. And they just tack a number on the end. One thing yuppies are good at, efficiency. You guys ever think about just numbering each other? Like ‘Hey, Number Five!’ you know?”

Will chuckled – that sound was quickly climbing the list of Derek’s favorite sensory experiences of his damn life – and seemed to think for a moment. His eyes crinkled and he snorted. Loud. Oh my god, a new contender. 

“I would – that – I’d be Number Two.”

“Real mature, Will.” But Derek, was already grinning.  
They both laughed for a while, catching each other’s eyes and starting up again anytime they thought they’d caught their breath, until Will wiped at his eyes a bit and looked at his phone. “Oh, shit. It’s past midnight. Um, okay, give me like, twenty minutes to get you rigged up here, and we’ll head back. Sorry for keeping you out here this long.”

Derek stared at Will’s hands again, raking through his red hair. Oh, fuck, he’s really cute. And they were… getting along? At least getting along, right?

“Man, do not feel sorry. I have nowhere to be, and um, besides,”

Will’s eyebrows knitted together at his hesitation. 

Fuck it. Derek pressed his hand to Will’s bicep, and squeezed. Will’s eyes locked onto where Derek was touching him and his ears flushed red again. Please be right.

“And, um. Yeah, I wouldn’t mind being around for a bit. Like, we could chill maybe? You seem like a good guy, so –“ 

“One second, just. You're not wrong. Just let me say something.”

Derek nodded dumbly, jaw on the damn ground. 

“You. Yeah I would totally like to... chill, with you?” Will’s eyes raked down Derek’s chest. Fuck, it’s like he could feel the heat from that gaze. “Yeah, definitely. Um, but just a warning about my town…”

Will trailed off, but the message got through. They both winced. “Is it like, the gay thing? Or the black thing?” Will’s face fell.

“I didn’t even think about that part. Shit, um. Maybe, maybe both? Like, there’s a few families that live in town and they don’t get any shit I think, and like, fuck, I don’t think anyone is actively… fuck, I don’t know. It’s more the first thing though, probably.”

Derek could feel Will tense up, could see the knots forming in his shoulders. He stroked a thumb over Will’s arm. He got it. He'd been there, too.

Will looked down at his feet. “At least, like, in my experience it’s more… that. The first thing.”

Derek ducked his head to catch Will’s eye. “Hey, dude. I’ll be fine. You’ll be fine. I am nothing if not subtle. Fuck, I’m subtle as shit.”

Will huffed a laugh and his eyes crinkled when he looked back at Derek. He started back to the truck, nudging Derek’s shoulder with his own. “Yeah, I can tell. Sooo sneaky. If I wasn’t – if I didn’t... what would you have done?”

Derek considered for a moment as Will unlocked the truck and held open the door. Here he was on the side of the road in the middle of the night, miles outside a town he had never heard of, with hardly any battery in his phone. He hadn't told his friends or his parents where he was going, only that he needed open air and a quiet room in which to write. He had every reason to be guarded and cautious around someone like Will, but that simply was not the feeling that had struck him when he saw Will laugh, even at his expense. He had wanted to laugh, too. He wanted to indulge himself, his own carelessness, and he knew he'd come out okay.

“I dunno, but I wasn’t worried. I mean it, you seem like a good guy. Like a ‘won’t beat up a stranger because he makes a pass, even if you’re not gay’ kind of guy.” 

Derek slid up onto the passenger seat of the cab, and then Will was right there, pressed between Derek’s legs, leaning into the door, into Derek's space. 

One hand landed on Derek’s thigh, one on his hip, wrapping around to the small of his back. Derek let himself be pulled forward. Will's quiet laugh was hot at Derek’s throat as he squeezed his thighs together to bracket Will's waist.

“Good to know you have such high standards.”

**Author's Note:**

> Seriously, any feedback is welcome. I've never written fic before, so any and all help is welcome!


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